How to Feel Even When You Hurt

One of the most natural — and healthy — reactions to pain is to recoil and protect ourselves from that which can hurt us. For example, if our hand feels the burning heat of flame, we reflexively pull pack to prevent further damage. Likewise, the same seems to be true regarding psychological and/or emotional pain: When we feel hurt by a personal loss or trauma, our instinctive reaction should be to attempt escape or retreat from the loss or agony. And perhaps we are often tempted to do so, but is that what we should do? Imagine never allowing ourselves to love or care deeply about someone, thus successfully shutting the door to vulnerability, and possible hurt incurred in human relationships. A genuine emotional connection always carries the potential for pain. Allowing ourselves to feel will inevitably leave us open to experience the world of the wounded. Loving hearts can also bleed. How then can we deal with psychological pain?

The difficult truth is that the only way out of emotional pain is through it. We need to learn how to allow the hurt seep through our beings, and in that process we will discover that this doesn’t weaken us but actually makes us stronger.

Please join Rabbi Jacobson as he leads us on a journey into the inner recesses of how our psyches processes disconsolate emotions. Discover the mysterious secret of healing — the capacity to feel pain and transform it into seeds of growth.